i6 



NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



Words which are not capable of 

 bemg used as names, but only as 

 parts of names, were called by some 

 of the schoolmen Syncategorematio 

 terms : from citv, with, and KaTrjyop^oj, 

 to predicate, because it was only with 

 some other word that they could be 

 predicated. A word which could be 

 used either as the subject or predicate 

 of a proposition without being accom- 

 panied by any other word, was termed 

 by the same authorities a Categore- 

 matic term. A combination of one 

 or more Categorematic, and one or 

 more Syncategorematiq words, as A 

 heavy body, or A court of justice, 

 they sometimes called a mixed term ; 

 but this seems a needless multiplica- 

 tion of technical expressions. A 

 mixed term is, in the only useful 

 sense of the word, Categorematic. 

 It belongs to the class of what have 

 been called many- worded names. 



Tor, as one word is frequently not 

 a name, but only part of a name, so 

 a number of words often compose one 

 single name, and no more. These 

 words, " The place which the wisdom 

 or policy of antiquity had destined 

 for the residence of the Abyssinian 

 princes," form in the estimation of 

 the logician only one name ; one 

 Categorematic term. A mode of de- 

 termining whether any set of words 

 makes only one name, or more than 

 one, is by predicating something of it, 

 and observing whether, by this pre- 

 dication, we make only one assertion 

 or several. Thus, when we say, John 

 Nokes, who was the mayor of the 

 town, died yesterday — by this predi- 

 cation we make but one assertion ; 

 whence it appears that " John Nokes, 

 who was the mayor of the town," is no 

 more than one name. It is true that 

 in this proposition, besides the asser- 

 tion that John Nokes died yesterday, 

 there is included another insertion, 

 namely, that John Nokes was mayor 

 of the town. But this last assertion 

 was already made : we did not make 

 it by adding the predicate, "died 

 yesterday." Suppose, however, that 

 thQ words had been, John Nokes and 



the mayor of the town, they would 

 have formed two names instead of 

 one. For when we say, John Nokes 

 and the mayor of the town died yes- 

 terday, we make two assertions : one, 

 that John Nokes died yesterday ; the 

 other, that the mayor of the town 

 died yesterday. 



It being needless to illustrate at 

 any greater length the subject of 

 many-worded names, we proceed to 

 the distinctions which have been 

 established among names, not accord- 

 ing to the words they are composed 

 of, but according to their significa- 

 tion. 



§ 3. All names are names of some- 

 thing, real or imaginary ; but all 

 things have not names appropriated 

 to them individually. Tor some in- 

 dividual objects we require, and con- 

 sequently have, separate distinguish- 

 ing names ; there is a name for every 

 person, and for every remarkable 

 place. Other objects, of which we 

 have not occasion to speak so fre- 

 quently, we do not designate by a 

 name of their own ; but when the 

 necessity arises for naming them, we 

 do so by putting together several 

 words, each of which, by itself, might 

 be and is used for an indefinite num- 

 ber of other objects ; as when I say, 

 this stone : " this " and " stone " being, 

 each of them, names that may be used 

 of many other objects besides the par- 

 ticular one meant, though the only 

 object of which they can both be used 

 at the given moment, consistently 

 with their signification, may be the 

 one of which I wish to speak. 



Were this the sole purpose for 

 which names, that are common to 

 more things than one, could be em- 

 ployed ; if they only served, by 

 mutually limiting each other, to afford 

 a designation for such individual ob- 

 jects as have no names of their own ; 

 they could only be ranked among 

 contrivances for economizing the use 

 of language. But it is evident that 

 this is not their sole function. It is 

 by their means that we are enabled 



